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Step One: Sit the puppy on a flat surface. Evaluate head planes, ear set, length of ear,
eye shape and size. A beagle with proper parallel planes at 12 weeks will have
them at maturity. A high ear set or a
shorter ear at this age will not improve.
I want a nice long ear. If the
ear length looks slightly long then that is a plus for me. The ears should
reach past the nose at this stage. I have found that they usually grow into
those ears. A small eye will be a small eye at maturity. Next check the bite. The puppy should have a scissors bite. I
prefer a loose scissors versus a tight scissors at this age. I have had several puppies with nice tight
scissors bites ultimately have level bites as an adult. I want to see just a small amount of space
between the upper and lower incisor teeth since the lower jaw grows for a
longer period of time than the upper jaw. Step Two: Stack the puppy on the flat surface. Evaluate length of neck. A short neck is faulty and usually is associated with incorrect front structure. I want a nice length of neck that flows into the shoulders smoothly without a roll of noticeable skin at the withers. Usually when there is a “rough” transition from neck to shoulders you will find the puppy has a shoulder assembly set too far forward. (Illustration 1). Step Three: Gently set the front and see that the front
legs are placed naturally, straight and true.
The puppy should not stand with toes turned in or out. Assess the substance of the puppy. Substance is made up of both bone and
muscling and this can be better evaluated at 12 weeks of age. If the puppy looks light in bone or heavy in
bone then it probably will be the same as a mature adult. (Illustration 2.) Evaluate the front structure by comparing length of scapula (withers to point
of shoulder) to the length of upper arm (point of shoulder to elbow). These measurements should be almost equal. There should be good width of chest and fill
between the front legs. In a well-angulated front assembly, the paws sit
under the withers (the tops of the shoulder blade). If the paws are
forward of the withers, so that they are closer to being under the neck, then
the front structure is incorrect (usually a short upper arm); the mature dog
will have some gait defect when viewed from the front (coming at you)
and generally will lack forechest. You may see this in the movement of the
puppy at 12 weeks of age with too much lift to the front, paddling or flipping
of front and usually a dip in the topline right behind the withers. Evaluate the feet. The puppy should have the correct cat foot
with strong straight pasterns. Step Four: Measure
the distance from withers to elbow and the distance from elbow to ground. These measurements should be almost
equal. Depth of chest should end almost
at the elbow. If the chest ends slightly
above the elbow that is ok since some puppies will develop more depth of chest
with maturity, especially a male. But
there should not be a noticeable lack of depth of chest or nor should the depth
of chest extend past the elbow at this age. Step Five: Evaluate the length of back. Measure the distance from withers to front base
of tail and the height measured from withers to ground. The length of back should be slightly less
that the height. If these measurements
are equal or if the length of back is greater than height, the puppy will
usually mature to be an adult that is long in body. Whereas a puppy that is noticeable shorter in
body length (¾”- 1”in difference) usually matures to be too short in body or
too cobby. A beagle that is too cobby
will usually have movement faults since the rear and front have to compensate
and many times you will see sidewinding, paddling, or wide rear movement. Step Six: Length of rib cage is very important. You want to see ribs that extend well back
with a proper length of sternum. The
ribs should make up 2/3 of the distance from withers to point of hip. The other 1/3 is the loin. A puppy that is ½ ribbing and ½ loin is incorrect. Step Seven: Gently drop the rear in the same manner to see how the
puppy naturally stands. They should not be cow-hocked or bow-legged
from the rear. Rear legs should be straight and true from the back view.
Any deviation from the straight column of support wastes energy moving and
puts stress on the joints over the lifetime of the dog. The distance from hock
to paw should be equal too or shorter than the distance from hock to stifle
joint (second thigh). If the length of
hock is longer usually the puppy will mature with lack of bend of stifle and be
straight in the rear. I personally
prefer puppies with slight over angulation as I find rear angulation does not
improve with age; in fact it seems to decrease as the puppy matures. Step Eight: Evaluate
how the puppy naturally stands and moves. A puppy standing naturally square and correct
and that looks balanced will probably grow to be a natural standing balanced
adult. This type puppy will always seem
to stand out and draw your attention.
Evaluate the puppies moving on their own in the yard and on leash. A puppy that moves smoothly and efficiently will
probably move that way as an adult. A
puppy that trots naturally and comfortably will be a better mover than a puppy
that tends to trot in the front and bunny hop in the rear. Observe the topline; is there a dip behind the shoulders while moving? Does the tail set look low while moving? Tail carriage can change as a puppy matures but a puppy with a gay tail at 12 weeks that comes over enough that the tip almost touches the back will usually have a gay tail as an adult. Evaluate this when the puppy is moving on it’s on naturally in the yard. If these two faults are noticed at this age—they will only get more obvious as the puppy grows. Bad toplines and tail sets at this age do not get better in my experience.
|  Illustration 1.  Illustration 2. Here are pictures of a beagle at 8wks of age, 12 weeks of
age and one year of age. Observed how
the adult looks like a larger version of the puppy. She maintained her balance
and grew into the promise that was present as a puppy. |
